The Anti Neo-Democracy Theorist

Martin Luther King’s inspirational piece on Unjust laws and Non-violent civil disobedience

Excerpts from this piece:

You may well ask: “Why direct action? Why sit-ins, marches, etc.? Isn’t negotiation a better path?” You are exactly right in your call for negotiation. Indeed, this is the purpose of direct action. Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and establish such creative tension that a community that has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It seeks so to dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored. I just referred to the creation of tension as a part of the work of the nonviolent resister. This may sound rather shocking. But I must confess that I am not afraid of the word tension. I have earnestly worked and preached against violent tension, but there is a type of constructive nonviolent tension that is necessary for growth. Just as Socrates felt that it was necessary to create a tension in the mind so that individuals could rise from the bondage of myths and half-truths to the unfettered realm of creative analysis and objective appraisal, we must see the need of having nonviolent gadflies to create the kind of tension in society that will help men to rise from the dark depths of prejudice and racism to the majestic heights of understanding and brotherhood. So the purpose of the direct action is to create a situation so crisis-packed that it will inevitably open the door to negotiation. We, therefore, concur with you in your call for negotiation. Too long has our beloved Southland been bogged down in the tragic attempt to live in monologue rather than dialogue……

You express a great deal of anxiety over our willingness to break laws. This is certainly a legitimate concern. Since we so diligently urge people to obey the Supreme Court’s decision of 1954 outlawing segregation in the public schools, it is rather strange and paradoxical to find us consciously breaking laws. One may well ask: “How can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others?” The answer is found in the fact that there are two types of laws: There are just and there are unjust laws. I would agree with Saint Augustine that “An unjust law is no law at all.”

Now, what is the difference between the two? How does one determine when a law is just or unjust? A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law. To put it in the terms of Saint Thomas Aquinas, an unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal and natural law. Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust. All segregation statutes are unjust because segregation distorts the soul and damages the personality. It gives the segregator a false sense of superiority, and the segregated a false sense of inferiority. To use the words of Martin Buber, the Jewish philosopher, segregation substitutes and “I-it” relationship for an “I-thou” relationship, and ends up relegating persons to the status of things. So segregation is not only politically, economically and sociologically unsound, but it is morally wrong and sinful. Paul Tillich has said that sin is separation. Isn’t segregation an existential expression of man’s tragic separation, an expression of his awful estrangement, his terrible sinfulness? So I can urge men to disobey segregation ordinances because they are morally wrong…… (more…)

My friend pointed to me some shocking pictures of the “real” China. In every society, there’s always the haves and the haves-not. Unfortunately, our travels to the Orchard Road of China sometimes blind us from the Aljunied of China.

In this May Labour Day, have you spared a thought about the less fortunate in our society?

Have you thought of the many Singaporeans who struggle to earn a living each day?

Have you thought of the Singaporeans who have to drop out of Secondary School to support their parents?

Have you thought of the Singaporeans who have to help their parents in their work and thus have less time for their studies?

Have you thought of the Singaporeans living in one room flat with no relatives to visit or feed them?

Have you thought of the elderly Singaporeans working in Macdonald while they should be enjoying the fruits of their lifetime labor with family and friends?

Have you thought of the elderly Singaporeans picking up cardboard boxes in order to get one meal a day?

Something I wrote: Please do not cite without permission. Really enjoying the classes I am taking this term….

The Enlightenment, Gender and Sacrifice

On the surface, Montesquieu seemed to argue that gender should be a dividing line on whether one could be enlightened. In reality, Montesquieu argued that the women could be enlightened. Montesquieu’s philosophical contributions towards gender in the enlightenment were seen in his arguments that man had a role in facilitating the process of enlightenment for women and that a process of sacrifice was needed for women to achieve their own enlightenment. To examine such a hypothesis, we need to first examine the characteristics of what is means to be enlightened. Essentially, the Enlightenment was a process in which intellectuals urged humanity to adopt one’s own reason, undistorted by prejudice and without the guidance of others.[1] This is encapsulated in Immanuel Kant’s philosophy in his exclamation of “Sapere aude!” (Dare to Know!).[2] Thus, we have to examine closely if the Kantian rationality and reason were manifested in the depiction of women in Montesquieu’s Persian Letters to attest whether Montesquieu felt that women could be enlightened.

Two key elements of the Enlightenment, the notions of rational and independent thoughts and behaviors, were reflected strongly in Montesquieu’s depiction of woman in the Persian Letters. In Letter 141, Montesquieu described the story of Anais taking actions independent of her husband’s wishes to alleviate her sufferings in their abusive relationship as well as to help her fellow sisters out of such abusive relationships. While enjoying her afterlife, Anias “did not confine herself merely to compassion; her feelings for these unfortunate women went deeper than that and she felt disposed to help them.” [3] In doing so, she broke free from her “nonage” imposed by her husband and took a further step to help her fellow wives to achieve the same form of enlightenment. In addition, Anais’s creation of an ideal man in a relationship to free her compatriots; an Ibrahim that cares, loves and respects his wife in an equal and harmonious relationship shows clearly her clever inversion of the role of “the other”. Thus, Montesquieu suggested that an abusive husband could inhibit his wife’s process of breaking free from her “nonage”. The use of an ideal “other” could even suggest that man should be an active agent in helping women to achieve enlightenment. Moreover, in a wider context, the Anais story could be seen as Montesquieu’s emphasis of virtue over mere authority and power. Institutions of authority, be it the Catholic Church or the Monarchy, as represented by the husband, should strive to facilitate their subjects’ enlightenment by stressing rationality, respect and tolerance. In this case, the subjects are represented by Anais and her fellow wives.

In addition, the notion that man should not inhibit women in their enlightenment process was depicted in the Hindu’s women story in Letter 125. The letter told of a Hindu woman who initially wanted to be buried with her dead husband according to Hindu customs. However, upon being enlightened on the possibility of her reuniting with her husband if she buried herself, she changed her mind and decided to convert to a Muslim. She said of her husband, “He was jealous and bad tempered, and in any case so old that……he certainly has no need of me. Burn myself for him? I wouldn’t burn the tip of my finger to get him out of the depths of hell.” [4] This anecdote by Montesquieu showed that an enlightened woman was rational and independent in that she would not blindly follow religious customs if she felt that she would be in a disadvantaged position. It also shows that if man treated women badly in a relationship, the process of enlightenment for women might not occur till her husband’s death. Thus, man had the potential to either assist or hinder the enlightenment of woman, in which Montesquieu strongly believed in the former.

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The New Paper ran an article today commentating that IP students might find it difficult to cope with A-levels, on the premise that they have not done O-levels.

Moving away from that issue, it seems that many of the elective classes they can take seem intellectually stimulating; in fact, some of the classes offered in the IP program are not necessarily in line with what you would expect the government to approve. Kudos to the government for being progressive. Take for example the classes Temasek Academy offers:

Electives are classified into four themes. Here are some samples of what they have to offer.

Media and Culture
	Eternal Obsessions: Science Fiction and Fantasy in Contemporary Society link The Grammar of Singlish link Tamil Film Making* (for Tamil speaking students) link Short Story Appreciation The Media Matrix Uncovered Expository Writing Beyond Hollywood: Celebrating World Cinema A Sculpture On Youth Culture Film Appreciation: Children of the World Story Telling Exploring the Gender Roles in Shakespeare’s Comedies Nanchang Exchange Programme Bollywood: Ideology and Culture The 20th century through the Medium of Photography Greek Mythology and Music Introduction to Malay Culture and Language
Innovation and Entreprise
	Innovation & Creativity link The Market link Economics in Vietnam link Games of Chance link Financial Literacy Maths & Passwords
Frontiers of Technology
	The Physics of Flight link Exploring Mathematics Using CAS-GC link Alchemy or Chemistry? link Mechanical Design (Miniature Vehicle) Food and Food Science Nature Conservation Crystal Growing Understanding Vegetarianism Fuel Cell Physics in Kayaking and Sailing
Government and Politics
	The Great Singapore Experiment link Power in International Relations link Democracy and South East Asia Civil Society

I really want to know how and what students in these IP programs learn about in classes like “Civil Society” or the “Grammer of Singlish”. Imagine that these classes were offered in my time. And my time wasn’t too many years ago. Would any teacher or student in the IP program share your thoughts on this matter? Would the next generation of Singaporeans (well, at least some privileged ones who can attend the IP program) be more politically and culturally aware?

Will JBJ be around to run in the next election? For which party? Is Channelnewsasia right when they say “former” opposition figure?

J B Jeyaretnam gets conditional discharge from bankruptcy
By Asha Popatlal, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 24 April 2007 0026 hrs

	Photos 1 of 1       J B Jeyaretnam

SINGAPORE : Former opposition figure J B Jeyaretnam on Monday got what is known as a “conditional discharge from bankruptcy” from the Court of Appeal.

This means he will be in the clear, as long as he pays up the full amount owed to creditors within three weeks.

The amount he owes is S$233,255.

Mr Jeyaretnam had been declared bankrupt in 2001.

He was not able to pay creditors after being hit by a series of defamation lawsuits in 1996 and 1997, including one by Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong.

Mr Jeyaretnam subsequently lost his seat as a Non-Constituency MP in Parliament.

He was back in the Court of Appeal to try and close that final chapter and be discharged from bankruptcy.

The court learnt that creditors had agreed to accept 45 percent of what was owed, but just how much money exactly that 45 percent translated into was disputed.

Lawyers for the creditors said it was just under a quarter million dollars but Mr Jeyaretnam argued he should pay about half that amount.

But the Court of Appeal asked both sides to come to an agreement on the amount that should be paid.

After the judgement, lawyers for the creditors said this was the offer they had made all along since last year but Mr Jeyaretnam had disputed the figures.

If it hadn’t been for that, the matter could have been settled and Mr Jeyaretnam could have been discharged by now.

As for Mr Jeyaretnam, he said he was thankful for small mercies although the final figure was higher than he had expected. - CNA/ms

Mr. Biao has an interesting reply from a Danish reader on the relationship between governance and remuneration of pay.

MM Lee says today that Singapore is an extraordinary country; so we must be different from other countries in thinking about policies, ministerial salaries, and rules of governance and engagement. I agree with him. Why can’t we be a extraordinary developed democracy? Why can’t we strive to be the “best” democracy in the world?

Quote of the Day: (Notice we are yet again DIGITS in the economy??)

“If we are dynamic, we will attract talent, we will grow because we have more talent. When I say talent, it means people who add to the dynamism of that society. Singaporeans, if I can chose an analogy, we are the hard disk of a computer, the foreign talent are the megabytes you add to your storage capacity. So your computer never hangs because you got enormous storage capacity,” said Mr Lee.

Something I wrote……

Confucius, Virtue, and Participation in Wei Yuan’s discourse

Wei Yuan (魏源) was an important New Text scholar who advocated greater participation of elites in the national affairs of the Qing dynasty in China. I will argue that Wei Yuan’s stresses on Confucius’s virtue and Confucius’s inability to influence policies of his time helped to justify his theory of broadening political participation in Qing times. Through stressing these elements of Confucius, Wei Yuan argued that broadening political participation was naturally inevitable so as to enhance the virtue and authority of the emperor.

Wei Yuan believed strongly in broadening political participation of national affairs by elites in his essay “On Governance.” By instrumentally using three poems from the past, “Deer Call”, “Woodcutters” and “Brilliant Are the Flowers”, Wei Yuan argues that greater participation by elites in governance was important and natural:

The deer cry out to one another while foraging for food……the birds call in chorus to seek their companions……The first stanza [of “Brilliant Are the Flowers] has “everywhere asking for counsel,” the second has “everywhere asking for instructions,” the third has “everywhere asking for good plans,” and the fourth has “everywhere asking for advice.”[1]

Just as the deer and birds sought companionship, the emperor should naturally seek out like minded elites to help run the nation. In addition, the emperor should sought advice from such elites repeatedly and consistently from all quarters of the country in order to govern effectively. In addition, Wei Yuan’s premise for broadening participation among the elites rested on the anvil of virtue. The strong emphasis on virtue for rulers was shown when Wei Yuan remarked in his essay on “The Pursuit of Profit”:

Is his wisdom sufficient to prevent the rise of the villainous and his strength [sufficient to suppress] covetous scheme? The sage rules over the superior men of all-under-Heaven by virtue of the teaching of moral norms (名教mingjiao), yet he rules over the common people by providing sources of handsome profit.[2]

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My deepest condolences to the students and families of those affected by the Virginia Tech University Gun shooting tragedy. As a fellow college student, my heart goes out to all students in Virginia Tech.

Took a seminar class on Comparative Democratic Institutions two terms ago and was looking at some of my old posts on the common discussion webpage for my class; thought of reproducing some of them here. Some of them in retrospective seemed a little silly now but still interesting =) Sorry if I am not referencing some of these book titles fully.

Discussion Questions on Legislative Systems and Effects on Policy Making

Baldez and Carey shows that institutional designs adopted during the Pinochet era affected post transition politics. The bias towards executive dominance in Chile on the budget is shown in its ability to possess leverages over the legislature, especially on Article 64 where holding that the “president’s proposed budget is implemented if Congress fails to pass a budget law within sixty days.”

1) If we examine post transition Chile policymaking outside the budget process, can we assume that each veto players have different interests? Could the 3 hypothesis discussed by the two authors play out differently in non-budget bills?

2) Must there be a consensus within Congress to be able to have a slightly upper hand in negotiating with the congress? (more…)

Credits: Blackfive

And it ain’t pretty. I wonder if PAP might have to come up with new policies to deal with increasing transnational activism that comes with increased globalization. My friends after seeing these news have been coming up to me to ask questions; so far I have not said much. Why? Because I am too disappointed with our first world government leaders in dealing with dissent to share anything. Shrugging my shoulders, I go on with my day.

I am proud to be a Singaporean; we as a people have achieved a lot, we have created a multi-racial society on very difficult grounds and we have a safe and clean environment. However, sometimes when my country leaders’ lack of PR skills get splashed across the world, I ask myself, are our leaders putting Singapore on the world map in a negative way? Can we always blame the international media for interpreting such decisions as “authoritarian”? Where and what exactly are the moral underpinnings behind Asian Value and non-intervention?

It is interesting that our first world MPs and ministers, graduating from Harvard, NUS, LSE, Columbia, Cambridge, Oxford and Beijing University has not taught them to deal better with cross cultural political issues? I hope the next generation of young Singaporean leaders can do better; Number one rule: Do unto others what you want others to do unto you.

Majulah Singaporeans!

前进吧，新加坡人！

BBC News
Europe MPs ‘gagged’ by Singapore
Singapore has been accused of acting like an “authoritarian state” after refusing to allow European Parliament members to speak during a visit.

The seven MEPs, as well as a Cambodian and a Philippines congresswoman, were denied permission to speak at a forum on democracy in Europe and Asia.

One MEP likened the Singaporeans’ to repressive regimes such as North Korea.

The Singapore government said foreigners did not have permission to address the event.

The seven MEPs, from the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE), came to Singapore after earlier speaking at a forum in Indonesia.

‘Authoritarian state’

“I fear that, in this sense at least, it puts Singapore in a league with North Korea, Myanmar and the People’s Republic of China,” MEP Graham Watson was quoted as saying by the AFP news agency.

“What has happened today proves that Singapore is an authoritarian state,” said Ignasi Guardans, a Spanish MEP.

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